The safety and efficacy of a single dose (500 mg or 1 g) of intravenous magnesium sulfate in neuropathic pain poorly responsive to strong opioid analgesics in patients with cancer.

Neuropathic pain may respond poorly to morphine and is often difficult to relieve. Recent attention has been drawn to the role of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor in the potentiation of neuropathic pain. Magnesium is known to block the NMDA receptor.

Reading numbers aloud: a measure of the limiting effect of breathlessness in patients with cancer.

Background: Progress in the treatment of breathlessness at rest or on minimum exertion in patients with cancer requires a practical and valid method of measuring symptoms. A study was undertaken to explore the practicality, repeatability, and sensitivity of reading numbers as a form of exercise test in this group of patients.

Methods: Thirty patients with cancer and 30 age matched healthy subjects read numbers aloud as quickly and clearly as they could for 60 seconds.

Home births and antenatal care: the G.P. perspective.

138 General Practitioners (G.P.s) in an Irish regional health authority were sent a postal questionnaire on antenatal services and home births.

The provision of influenza vaccine to patients over 65 years by general practitioners.

Influenza vaccination for all elderly persons is cost effective. Guidelines in Ireland recommend the vaccine for those with chronic illness and to the elderly in care. The aims of this study are to identify how influenza vaccine is provided to elderly patients and to get GPs opinions on what barriers there are to providing the vaccine to persons 65+ years.

Electrophoretic mobility of five polypeptides using nine different capillary chemistries over the pH range of 3.5-6.5.

The performances of nine commercially available capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) capillaries were tested and compared. Five model polypeptides, ranging in size from a tetrapeptide (604 D) to beta-lactamase 1 (approximately 29,000 D), were run at 32 degrees C on each of the nine capillaries using 10-mM ionic strength buffers at pH 3.5, 5.

The appreciation of visual jokes in people with schizophrenia: a study of 'mentalizing' ability.

It has been suggested that certain characteristic symptoms of schizophrenia reflect a specific deficit in the ability to attribute mental states to others ('mentalizing'). Patients with negative features, particularly social withdrawal and blunted affect, those with thought disorder and patients with paranoid symptoms have difficulties when they try to infer what is going on in the minds of other people. This study examines this notion using two sets of cartoon jokes.

Exploring 'theory of mind' in people with schizophrenia.

Mentalizing ability was studied in 46 symptomatic schizophrenic patients and 44 non-symptomatic controls. Subjects heard six stories and simultaneously were shown simple cartoon pictures depicting the action sequencing occurring in the stories. All the stories involved false belief or deception, so that it was necessary to infer the mental states of the characters in order to understand their behaviour.

Influences on breast feeding initiation and duration.

The study objectives were to establish the prevalence of breast feeding at birth, at four and twelve weeks after birth and describe the factors associated with its initiation and duration. The study population consisted of all babies born in May 1993 (n = 162) to mothers resident in Kildare. The response rate was 145/162 (89 percent).

Schizophrenia, symptomatology and social inference: investigating "theory of mind" in people with schizophrenia.

It has been proposed that certain psychotic symptoms associated with schizophrenia reflect a deficit in the ability to appreciate other people's mental states (Frith, 1992). This notion is tested using a newly devised task examining the capacity to infer intentions behind indirect speech. The findings support the notion that some patients with schizophrenia have difficulties with tasks requiring 'theory of mind' skills and that this deficiency is symptom specific.

The role of the right temporal lobe in card sorting: a case study.

It has been demonstrated previously that performance on the modified Wisconsin Card Sorting Task (Nelson, 1976) is compromised by hippocampal sclerosis, particularly of the right hemisphere (Corcoran and Upton, 1993). Further evidence in support of this claim is presented here in the form of a case study. The findings from this case demonstrated that performance on the same task was not impaired following a right sided frontal lobectomy but was found to be deficient consequent to seizure recurrence in the right temporal lobe and following right temporal lobe removal.

Illness in a community associated with an episode of water contamination with sewage.

Following an episode of water contamination with sewage in a rural Irish town, a community-wide survey of gastrointestinal-associated illness and health service utilization was conducted. Random sampling of households yielded residents who were surveyed using a self-administered questionnaire. Of 560 respondents from 167 (84%) households, equal proportions lived in areas known to have been exposed and unexposed to the contaminated water, although 65% of subjects reported using contaminated water.

The risk of hepatitis A from sewage contamination of a water supply.

The drinking water supply of a town became contaminated with sewage. The town's population was surveyed to determine the baseline prevalence of hepatitis A antibodies and to establish whether an associated outbreak of hepatitis A had occurred. Samples of saliva were obtained from 540 people in 200 randomly selected households, and tested for IgG and IgM antibodies to hepatitis A.

The role of the right hemisphere in the interpretation of figurative aspects of language. A positron emission tomography activation study.

We investigated cerebral activity in six normal volunteers using PET to explore the hypothesis that the right hemisphere has a specific role in the interpretation of figurative aspects of language such as metaphors. We also mapped the anatomical structures involved in sentence comprehension. During regional cerebral blood flow measurement subjects were asked to perform three different linguistic tasks: (i) metaphorical comprehension; (ii) literal comprehension of sentences; and (iii) a lexical-decision task.

Effects of vigabatrin on partial seizures and cognitive function.

Forty five patients with refractory partial seizures were studied in a prospective, randomised, placebo controlled, add on, parallel group, double blind trial of the new antiepileptic drug vigabatrin (1.5 g twice daily) followed by open treatment. Seizure frequency was monitored throughout an eight week baseline, 20 weeks double blind, and up to 18 months of open vigabatrin treatment.

Community demonstration project initiative: technical support for program development at the community level.

Select population groups are at greater than average risk for cancer incidence and mortality. Lack of experience reaching high-risk populations, particularly those characterized by high proportions of the socioeconomically disadvantaged, presented a challenge to the American Cancer Society (ACS). A partial solution was to integrate outreach to high-risk populations into ACS national priorities and to fund community demonstration projects consistent with these priorities.

Public attitudes about cigarette smoking: results from the 1990 Smoking Activity Volunteer Executed Survey.

The 1990 Smoking Activity Volunteer Executed Survey collected information on a wide range of policy-relevant issues concerning public attitudes about cigarette smoking. These issues include cigarette taxes, advertising restrictions, minors' access to tobacco products, school-based prevention, and exposure to environmental tobacco smoke in workplaces and public areas. Survey data were collected during the spring and summer months of 1990 from random samples of adults from Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Texas.